I'm a bit surprised Birmingham got that $25,000 back from Johnny J. Gibson Sr., the man in charge of entertainment promotions company G Entertainment. The City Council foolishly gave G Entertainment $25,000 in taxpayer money to help put on an event called the "Vulcan Bike Week" the first few days of July.

Two days after the council said it would help, the $25,000 city check was cashed, and the Gibsons promptly moved their motorcycle event from the Birmingham Race Course to a drag racing track in Steele, about 40 miles away in St. Clair County, where the event was a catastrophic failure.

To its credit, the city immediately took action to reclaim the money, and that's fine and dandy. But the questions still unanswered:

+ Why did the council feel compelled to help out G Entertainment when just a little checking would show the event was sketchy at best?

+ Why did the mayor's office cut a check in practically record time? Mayor William Bell said the process by which the money was provided was council-driven, but what are the details? Council members said it came from the mayor.

We know Councilwoman Valerie Abbott didn't drive it; she was the only council member to vote against the appropriation. Council President Roderick Royal and council members Carole Smitherman and Johnathan Austin weren't present when the vote was taken.

So if it was council-driven, as Bell said, it had to be pushed by one of those voting to give the money to Gibson. That leaves councilors Steven Hoyt, Maxine Parker, Kim Rafferty, Jay Roberson and Lashunda Scales on the hook, because they are the five who favored the $25,000 giveaway.

It's great taxpayers didn't get fleeced after all was said and done, but really, is all said and done? Taxpayers are owed a complete explanation on this debacle.